Technically, it’s not in Walnut Creek either, although it has a Walnut Creek address and is within that city’s sphere of influence.

Now, 37 years after it opened, the station soon may be known as Pleasant Hill/Contra Costa Centre if the BART board of directors approves the change.

The Contra Costa County Redevelopment Agency, Contra Costa Centre and the Walden District Improvement Association, which represents several thousand residents, have asked the BART board to rename the station.

Lynette Busby, executive director of Contra Costa Centre, said the proposed name recognizes the time and money the county has invested in the transit village area, which covers 140 acres, includes 2,800 residential units and is home to major employers such as Nextel Communications and California State Automobile Association. The new name also will help cement the area’s identity, she added.

“Contra Costa Centre is a destination spot,” Busby said. “The county has worked very hard in partnering with the homeowners and the businesses to create a model transit village.”

The process began in August 2004, when the board of supervisors endorsed a resolution asking BART for the name change. Later that year, the three groups submitted a formal application to the BART board.

Following a series of public workshops this week, Busby will turn in a report to BART General Manager Dorothy Dugger. Walter Gonzales of BART said the agency hopes the proposal will go before the board in time for the Oct. 2 grand opening of the Iron Horse Regional Trail pedestrian bridge over Treat Boulevard and the latest phase of the transit village.

BART has renamed a station once before. In 2005, the directors changed the name of the Civic Center station in downtown San Francisco to Civic Center/U.N. Plaza at the request of Mayor Gavin Newsom, according to BART spokesman Linton Johnson.

The redevelopment agency and developer AvalonBay Communities will cover the cost of changing the station signs as part of $3 million in planned upgrades at the station. Contra Costa Centre will pay to update BART maps and schedules.

Although Busby stressed that Pleasant Hill will remain part of the station’s name, supporters of the change also want to make it clear that the area is not in the city.

Jim Hunt, president of the Walden District Improvement Association, said the new name “recognizes we are not in Pleasant Hill; it’s not our mailing address, we don’t view ourselves as being part of Pleasant Hill.”

He also echoed Busby’s claim that BART riders are sometimes confused by the existing station name. For example, Hunt said he has heard of visitors mistakenly ending up in Pleasanton.

“By having Contra Costa Centre as part of that station name, that error will be less frequent, we hope,” he added.

But Philip Stephens, who lives in the area, thinks the name change is a bad idea. Although Contra Costa Centre is a nonprofit — and BART bans naming stations for commercial enterprises — he believes AvalonBay will benefit most from the new name, which he compared to changing the Walnut Creek station to Walnut Creek/Marriott Hotel.

“I think it opens the door and sets an improper precedent. Every single BART station on the entire route could be open to having a commercial entity added to the name,” he said.

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